


Tuning

by songspinner9



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode Related, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 10:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songspinner9/pseuds/songspinner9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Ianto deal with an unexpected side-effect of what the Captain went through on the Valiant, and Ianto comes up with a solution.</p><p>Disclaimer: RTD and the BBC own "Torchwood", "Doctor Who", and all that.</p><p>Spoilers: for Doctor Who "Last of the Timelords" and Torchwood start of season 2</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tuning

Owen's music echoed right out of the medical bay and through the Hub that morning, and Gwen rolled her eyes in fond annoyance.

"We should all be grateful that he didn't choose heavy metal today." Tosh said with a small grin, and went back to her programming.

Ianto was prepared to ignore the racket until he looked up to see Jack's face at the glass window above them. The older man was frozen, fists clenched against the glass that was vibrating with bass rhythm. And the expression he wore sent an adrenaline shock through Ianto's body; something was terribly wrong. The abruptness with which Jack suddenly disappeared from view made Ianto put the stack of files he was carrying onto Owen's desk and quickly climb the stairs.

He didn't bother knocking, but opened the door just enough to slide through and then quickly closed it behind him. The room was fairly dim, with only the little lamps on Jack's desk glowing for illumination.

Following the sound of uneven breathing, Ianto lowered himself to the ground in the corner, inches away from where Jack was sitting behind the desk with his back against the wall.

"Jack?" Ianto didn't truly expect an answer right then, but hoped that the other man would feel safe enough to tell him something.

"He played music all the time. Created his own soundtrack to devastation." Jack's voice was barely audible.

Ianto had a horrible feeling he knew which "he" Jack referred to. Whatever his lover had been through while absent from the Hub was obviously bad, and had gone on longer than they'd experienced. He'd only been given tidbits...just enough to explain the nightmares. And now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard Jack humming to himself or singing in the Hub since returning, which was just plain wrong somehow.

Blue eyes that had been staring into space finally blinked and Jack pressed the palms of his hands into those eyes as though it would hold something back. "He used this one drum rhythm as the carrier for his mind control and he was furious that it didn't work on me. Still don't know why. Made everyone listen to music, piped it through the ship we were on, and he'd pick songs just for the irony of the title or the lyrics, to demoralize us. Sometimes he'd...he'd make the music into something loud enough to shatter glass. To shatter my..." One hand went up to his ear, pressing tightly.

"Saxon...the Master...he used music when he was torturing you? Ah, Jack..." Unsure what to say to the other man at that point, he did finally manage to reach up one hand to his com and click the code for the medical lab. "Owen? Could you turn the music off, or at least just use earphones?" He listened to Owen's griping and then his concerned query. "Yeah. No, it's really important. Please? Yes, later. Thanks."

He held out his hand tentatively to Jack, relieved to find it grasped in return, and began running his fingers gently over the ones tightly clinging to his. "Better?" He gestured with his head at the room, referring to the lack of a drumbeat in the air.

"Yeah. Thanks." Jack whispered, shifting closer to lean his head down carefully on Ianto's shoulder. "Everything's been...I don't know...out of tune, since I got back." He snorted out a not-quite-laugh. "Disconnected."

"Music's something I've associated with you," Ianto murmured quietly, rubbing his cheek against Jack's hair in wordless reassurance to go with his verbal one. "From the first."

"Why?"

"I stuck around to watch you go after I helped you with that Weevil, and you had music playing in the SUV as you left. 1940's swing, as I recall. Not sure the Weevil appreciated it, though." He chuckled a bit, hearing an echo of it from Jack. "And then all those times I came in early in the morning only to find you singing in the Hub. You have such a beautiful voice, Jack, and sometimes I'd wait quietly just so you wouldn't know I was there and keep singing."

"My voice," Jack said softly. "Was one of the things the Time Agency trained. For use as a control device, as a weapon, as, as a tool...and I suppose that I really cherish any time I can use it for the sake of music. No ulterior motive to it."

"What you need," Ianto said, a bit stunned at Jack's rare offering of personal information, and thinking hard, "is to associate it with something beautiful instead of what he did to you. Will you sing for me?"

"I don't..." Jack began, sounding a little panicked.

"Jack, will you sing for me?" He repeated the words carefully, and waited a moment again. "Anything."

He waited patiently, and ten minutes later found himself thinking that Jack's shaky, soft version of "Love Changes Everything" was far more beautiful than any operatic aria he'd ever heard. By the time Jack's voice had steadied and gained strength into a clear tenor, they were on their feet swaying to the song in a slow dance.

And when the song had ended early, it was only because it was hard to kiss and sing at the same time. Ianto thought with fierce pride, as he felt Jack's hand begin a familiar slide up the side of his face and into his hair, that he'd picked the right key to heal.


End file.
